1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for guiding and transferring a rapidly quenched metallic tape (referred to "tape" hereinafter), particularly an amorphous metallic tape produced by a single roll method from a single cooling roll (referred to "cooling roll" hereinafter) to a winder.
2. Related Art Statement
Recently, it has been investigated and developed to produce metallic tapes directly from molten metals (including alloys) by rapidly liquid quenching methods such as a single roll method and a twin roll method. In carrying out these methods, the producing technique itself may of course be important to determine surface configurations and uniformity in thickness of the metallic tapes. However, in the production of the metallic tapes on industrial scale, it is needed to accomplish handling of produced metallic tapes or technique for winding the metallic tapes into coils.
In case of crystalline metallic tapes having thickness of not less than 100 .mu.m, feeding speeds of the tapes are usually not more than 5 m/sec by a limitation resulting from solidification due to heat transfer to a cooling element. Therefore, such metallic tapes can be transferred by a mesh belt having a clamper and taken up by winding by a heat-resistant belt wrapper as proposed in Japanese Patent laid open No. 61-88,904.
In case of amorphous metallic tapes, on the other hand, the thickness is very thin as less than 50 .mu.m and the feeding speed of the tapes is not lower than 20 m/sec. Therefore, means disclosed in the above Japanese Publication could not be applied without any modifications. With the amorphous metallic tapes, moreover, the characteristics of the materials tend to change depending upon producing speeds so that mechanical strengths are often spoilt. Therefore, it is more difficult to accomplish taking-up technique because the producing speed could not be changed in taking up on a reel and taking off.
It has been proposed to wind an amorphous metallic tape onto a take-up reel having a magnet embedded therein arranged closely adjacent a cooling roll in Japanese Patent laid open No. 57-94,453 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 59-34,467. This method is dexterous in arranging the take-up reel closely adjacent the cooling roll to eliminate the troublesome transferring of the tapes. However, as the reel is close to the cooling roll, it is not necessarily suitable for continuous production of the tapes. Moreover, it is not suitable for industrial production on a large scale, for lack of spaces for providing inspection devices for thicknesses and apertures of tapes and control device for tensile forces on the tapes.
In order to avoid these disadvantages, proposals for positively accomplishing the transfer technique by arranging winders remote from cooling rolls have been disclosed in Japanese Patent laid open Nos. 56-12,257, 59-43,772 and 59-138,572 and Japanese Patent Application No. 62-290,477. In these techniques, it has been proposed to use suction devices, brush rolls or brush solid roll pairs and the like as pinch rolls for catching and transferring amorphous metallic tapes. A stable taking up of amorphous metallic tapes can be realized if amorphous metallic tapes are caught between pinch rolls without being ruptured and given tensile forces required for transferring.
As there are few literatures and data concerning the transferring and taking up techniques after producing amorphous metallic tapes in comparison with producing technique thereof, it is not an easy matter to study all the techniques. The inventors have been investigated and improved the guide and transfer of amorphous metallic tapes peeling and flying from cooling rolls arranged remote from winders on the basis of the acknowledgement that arrangement of winders remote from cooling rolls is basically industrially superior, and they have encountered the following problems.
In the guiding and transferring systems above described, brush-solid roll pairs made of a combination of brush rolls and solid rolls are used as pinch rolls. It has been ascertained that by embracing a amorphous metallic tape between pinch rolls, tensile forces required for transferring is given to the metallic tape.
In guiding a rapidly quenched metallic tape produced by solidification through rapid quenching on a cooling roll to pinch rolls through a transfer guide after the peeling from the cooling roll, the guiding was not very difficult matter by applying particular devices to an air knife and the transfer guide. However, the metallic tape could not be pulled, even if the pinch rolls are pressed together. Therefore, the pinch rolls could not be used as a transfer system by moving the pinch rolls to a winder. Tensile forces required for transferring could not be given to a metallic tape only by transferring the metallic tape peeled from a cooling roll through a transfer guide.